Background: When any equipment is running, the physical collision occurs in the machinery, which requires the hydraulic buffer devices to absorb and dissipate the impact energy in order to avoid the large vibration and even the damage to the structure caused by the impact load on the equipment. Therefore, the design of hydraulic buffers is very necessary. Objective: Through the analysis of the research status of hydraulic buffers, some valuable conclusions are extracted from the representative and prospective results to predict the future research and development direction of hydraulic buffers. Methods: The researches on hydraulic buffers are summarized and compared, and the characteristics of energy absorption and energy consumption of hydraulic buffers are expounded. Combined with the principle of hydraulic buffers, the related patents of hydraulic buffer are studied. Results: By tracing the characteristics of different types of hydraulic buffers, the main problems existing in the development of hydraulic buffers are analyzed, such as short working life, low energy absorption efficiency, etc. Solving such problems as a prerequisite, the patents’ development of the structure and design method of hydraulic buffers is prospected. Conclusion: The optimization and development of hydraulic buffers are conducive to improving the energy absorption efficiency and frequency of hydraulic buffers. This paper, thus, summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of hydraulic buffers by tracing and summarizing the previous patents, learning that the most widely used buffer is the porous hydraulic buffer, but the cushioning performance of core rod buffer is more, which is the main development trend in the future.